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Hello all from Southern Illinois, USA!

Hello all from Southern Illinois, USA!
I had bees several years ago, bought my first package and kit from Sears. That should date me a bit. Eventually wife and I moved to town and had to give up the bees.
Now we have moved back out to the country and of course I had to get some more bees!
I used to be on here, but that was years ago. Things have changed quite a bit, and my old account was gone, so I re-joined a couple years ago and have been lurking in the shadows. This winter weather just keeps getting colder, and my cabin fever keeps getting worse, so I thought I would say "Hi" again.
In spring of 2011, I bought a couple of nice nucs from a (sort of) local fellow who has a great reputation and great bees. They settled down just fine in their new hives and soon each had 2 deeps full of bees. Then last spring I had surgery and that laid me low for quite a while. That kept me from working the bees the rest of last year.
I had given both hives a few frames with starter strips instead of full foundation, and never got to check on them. Now I don't really remember how many of these went into which hives (yes I know, I should keep records), so am a little apprehensive about what I'll find when I open them up. I'm fully recuperated and ready to go, but there's really not much I can do until spring. Which is very frustrating.
Both hives seemed to be quite strong last fall, though that was just from observation, I didn't open them up. I have been watching them this winter, and whenever the weather warms up enough I always see activity. Putting my ear up to each hive I can hear that nice deep BUZZZ even without knocking on it, so I know "thar be bees" there.
I would like to split both hives this year, assuming that they are strong enough.
So that's where I am.

Re: Hello all from Southern Illinois, USA!

Welcome back to the site. This is all new to me. Waiting on a rare ice event to pass here so I can get back to building my bear proof (I hope) bee yard. Cypress boxes and a gallon of tung oil are scheduled to be delivered today. (I don't like the look of painted boxes. lol ) So much to do!

Re: Hello all from Southern Illinois, USA!

Re: Hello all from Southern Illinois, USA!

Funny you mention Sears. I ordered some custom cut lumber from a contractor this week that kept bees while he was going to college. He ordered his hives and bees from Sears in 1977. He was stung shortly after and found out about his allergic reaction to bee stings, and sold his equipment. Now he has a custom sawmill and is cutting me some 10 inch boards to make my deeps out of.

I knew years ago that Sears was one of the foremost mail order catalogs in the US. You could order almost anything from them. But in my lifetime they have whittled themselves down to what they are today. And now they are owned by KMART. Wonder what they would do if you called them wanting some bees?